Edu was not part of the central trio, Bradley was being utilized as the "shield" d-mid (#6) for the defense. Edu was god awful, all game long. He's got the touch of a donkey and was by far the weakest link in the midfield. He took wayyyy to many touches every time he got the ball and he often bungled it and turned it over to Brazil. He and Bradley should have been swapped in their positions IF Edu had to be on the field at all. Realistically it should have been Jones in that position, with Bradley more in an attacking role.... box to box. Edu was flat out worthless the entire night and did nothing other than turn the ball over, I'd easily take Beckerman over Edu if Klinnsman is insistent on playing this 3 in the middle tactic and have Beckerman sit in the #6 spot. Beckerman is far more disciplined in that role and is actually capable of receiving the ball, making 1 to 2 touches and quickly moving it on to the next player like Bradley or Jones. Edu couldnt do this to save his life. Realistically we should be starting Jones as the #6, Bradley as the box to box, Dempsey, Donovan, Gomez and maybe one of Altidore or Boyd. Or go with Torres and stick with one forward.
I could go with that, but would rather that be in their back pocket for an offensive spark and they try fix their midfield trio. I would like to see the style, tactics, and results of the Scotland match against better competition instead of giving up on it as not good for the US. I would like them to at least try to fix that trio before moving completely to the 4 4 2. I loved the attack and combination play with Torres, Bradley and Donovan. I would like to see Dempsey and Jozy added to that. I think it would be potent offensively indeed. I also like Gomze and Altidore competing for a starting spot.
If it was successful with Scotland, why the hell did he swap roles? Don't fix it, if it ain't broke. IMO, I think if we came out with the same role and formation that we did against Scotland, it could have been a different result, but who knows.
Don't see much comment here on Torres: Brazil didn't allow him his left foot and when he came inside, he absolutely refused to pass with his right. He shut himself down IMO.
This might be the most important point. I don't think we've seen the true potential of this squad until this happens. Just my humble opinion.
I remember it. Its the one good goal that Brazil got. Bradley was pulled up too far. But the score was 2-1 and we got that one goal by Bradley going forward dramatically. He was needed in the attack and he knew it. If he is given license to do that... then its not undisciplined. Its a gamble. One could say he gambled too much but when he is needed that much to get a goal... I think its a tough call. I think you are putting him in a no win situation. Ask youself this question, why would he show such good discipline for his club and against Italy to just abandon it in one game? One doesn't change one's behavior that much. He was talking calculated and authorized gambles because the team needed him to. The problem is that the need- not his gamble. If Bradley had shown bad discipline all game... then okay. If it was a consistent trademark for his club... then okay... if he comes to the US team and consistenty changes his spots... odd.. but okay none of that happened. He took a gamble to pull the US even when they needed him to.. JK needs to do a better job of not asking him to gamble so much by either putting him further up, putting someone in front that can do the job, or not giving him lease to take gambles. I haven't once heard JK call bradley out for that...and calling players out in public is JK's mo.... So I still think it was a personnel problem, not a discipline problem.
Is Beckerman disciplined or physically incapable to quickly move into attack? A quick give and go with Donovan went no where because Beckerman is just too slow to make the quick decisive movements into attack.
Marcelo was the best player on the pitch last night. He also whined and bitched to the refs, at our players and cleated Dolo in the back on purpose after a play. There's overreacting to a play and there's being a douche... and the latter usually involves multiple, sustained instances of overreacting and bitching over the course of a game and/or many games to really get that 'reputation' as a douche... Even the announcers were saying Marcelo basically already has that reputation... I like his play (who wouldn't)... I don't like his behavior... plus, he looks like sideshow bob
It was an entire meltdown of team defending, Cherundolo had three Brazilians running straight at him and nobody in the center of the field made the slightest effort to shift over and provide cover for him. Bradley and Onyewu especially just kind of wandered into empty, useless space.
I was really struck by how early in the match we looked out of sorts. Just a few minutes in and you could tell that the back line was having problems against Brazil's pressing. I also disagree with the poster earlier in this thread who suggested that only 3-5 elite teams can press that way. I think there are at least 10-15 teams that can press well enough to put the US team that played yesterday out of sorts. Even teams that don't have the speed, fitness, and discipline to press like Brazil did seem to be doing it more often.
This might be a tangent. But does anyone else get irritated with Howard sometimes when we are trying to possess the ball and work it out of the back? The team will work it and pass it and then eventually goes to Howard. Instead of hitting the nearest CB, who is usually available. He sends it as far and as high as he can. WTF? The backs could have done that. The passed it back to MAINTAIN possession.. not for Howard to send a 50/50 ball to just over midfield. Its really the only part of his game that really annoys me. Sometimes...ya gotta clear it.. I get that.. but he does it waaay too much for me.
not to nit pick .. but go watch it again but this time more carefully BTW, I read most of your previous posts & I understand where you are coming from. For the record, I feel MB needs to be a more disciplined #6 which means that Marcelo is picked up by MB at the top of the box .. since the right side already had ample coverage. BTW, did you see the look on Marcelo's face after he scored. I think Marcelo was a little surprised to be left so WIDE open i.e., what would MJ think if Rodman or Laimbeer payed no attention to him? Another thing which I don't like about MB's game, ..., he jogs around too much at half speed with too much freedom. How does JK fit in the other pieces of the puzzle (e.g., up top .. Torres, Dempsey) with MB running all over the pitch?
A way to reduce a team like Brazil to desperation is man-marking them tight, for most of the game. When they cannot score after 75 minutes, they start losing it. It's what Paraguay does to them time and again: they don't let them breathe, cover every possible avenue for a pass, park the bus when needed, launch counters every ten minutes or so to keep them scared, and every time a Brazilian turns, they find two Paraguayan faces right behind them. It's what Bradley tried to do in the Confeds Cup, and it almost worked. Klinsmann is more courageous. It's prettier to watch. But, unless the USA gets top quality players in almost every position, I wouldn't expect the USA to ever defeat Brazil in a serious tournament if the game becomes a blow-by-blow exchange. They're just too masterful with the ball. The midfield, all in all, did ok. But that's where the most quality is found, in the USMNT: Torres, Jones, Bradley, Donovan. And Gomez did well retreating to place himself better for a pass and combination. Still, the defensive line, the holding mid part of the job of the midfielders, that's subpar when facing a Top 10 team.
Who would you say was at fault for Marcello's goal (3-1)? Marcello got the ball after Jones was dispossessed in Brazil's half. He had Hulk and Neimar to his right. When he fed Hulk, who fed Neymar, Cherundolo had two to deal with. Bradley shifted over to cover Hulk in case Neymar dropped the ball, and nobody picked up Marcello. Could be that should have been Gooch's job. Or should Bradley have stayed with Marcello and just allowed Hulk to be open for a drop from Neymar?
Sorry, that's not true. People got on Jones last night for what I thought was a clean tackle on Neymar, and always are getting on Jones for his aggressive playing style. Marcelo makes Jones look like an angel. He purposefully attempted to kick Dolo in the face, and also kicked the ball at him. He almost broke Messi's leg recently after purposefully trying to take him out. He is a De Jong, a complete douche.
You completely talked past his response. Nobody here denied his quality as a player. When you tried to claim bias you were given a concrete example of something dirty which our players do not do. That's a perfectly falsifiable statement. You only have to find an example to rebut the claim that Marcelo is dirtier than our players... and you talk about his great play. What?!
The Brazilian commentators on the "SporTV" (a Brazilian TV sports network) talk show "Troca de Passes" were saying today that Marcelo is even more likely than Felipe Melo was to get red carded at the World Cup.
Brazil is tuning up their best U-23 starters for an Olympic Gold Medal and they happen to have very talented youngsters in their current crop. You say we could not expect to defeat Brazil in a serious tournament but it seems to me we could have easily scored more goals yesterday with, say, Dempsey playing a full 90 and Bradley playing the position he played against Scotland. I would rather go ahead with the system we have in mind and score goals and not look too closely at games in which Klinsmann screws with the lineup to our detriment because he happens to be testing players. I don't think we can play the way Paraguay plays. We would just lose 2-0 and say wow, we almost did it. I'd rather lose 4-3 I'm not saying we could have beat Brazil but we could have scored goals.
I will say this: With a different refereeing crew and a little bit more luck in the goal mouth, we could have beaten Brazil yesterday.
I don't know much about the role he plays for Hoffenheim, but would Danny Williams be an improvement over the Edu in central midfield?
After match 2 of a 5 game tourney: 1. The guys looked ready for more, they did not look "beaten". More like disgusted. 2. No hands on the knees from the guys who went 90. 3. The team is still playing quickly and positively. Maybe not as dirty as Brazil. I would bet that JK is more than satisfied with the results thus far. The age of the squad tells me he is looking to build his core around certain older players. It is up to them to demonstrate that they belong. It is what this tourney is for IMO. Is it possible that this is as good as Gooch (that was his header of the bar!) is going to be? JK knows well Ream, Gonzalez and John (or as I refer to them as stiff, stiffer and stiffest). My inclination is we will see more Cameron and less Gooch through the rest of the tourney. The help wanted sign is definitely out for the next tourney. The change in the midfield from B Bradley to now is wonderful to watch. We use the entire pitch. Playing CONCACRAP sides is a great place to get better at it. Have yet to see the "A" team up top in this new positive style, so hopefully it only gets better. Yahoo, bring on the canucks!